


What they don't understand

by Starrie_Wolf



Series: Starrie's Yuletide Gifts 2019 [8]
Category: Bleach
Genre: A human's perspective on the UraIchi relationship, Angstier version, Don't Post To Another Site, Established Relationship, M/M, Misunderstandings, Post-Canon, Tokyo University, outsider pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21858004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starrie_Wolf/pseuds/Starrie_Wolf
Summary: Ichigo comes back from winter break with bruises he can't explain and a significant other who looks to be much older than him.His classmate thinks she's put two and two together.
Relationships: Kurosaki Ichigo/Urahara Kisuke
Series: Starrie's Yuletide Gifts 2019 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579774
Comments: 7
Kudos: 341
Collections: UraIchi Prompt Challenge #4





	What they don't understand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [QueenVeralidaineBookdragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenVeralidaineBookdragon/gifts).



> UraIchi Prompt Challenge #4  
> Prompt: 042. Outsider PoV
> 
> Yuletide Gift prompt: Ichigo’s at Tokyo University, one of his classmate’s/friend’s/teacher’s view on Urahara and Uraichi with no knowledge of soul society or who Ichigo’s boyfriend is
> 
> I'm not super happy with this one to be honest, but the other Outsider PoV version was where my brain went and it's not what you asked for...

It all started because of an accident, honestly.

Even in a place as prestigious as Tokyo University, students taking English Literature are few and far in-between. It’s unavoidable that their tiny class of twenty students are all well-acquainted with each other.

And amongst them, Kurosaki Ichigo stands out.

Not – not in a bad way, not really! He says his hair colour is natural, and Miho believes him, but, it’s just…

What’s a guy like Kurosaki-kun, who looks as far from the stereotypical bookish nerd as someone possibly could, doing in English Literature?

Miho may have, possibly, started watching him a little more closely. Just to learn more about him, she tells herself, not because she wants to get a better view of his abs, or, or –

Which is how she notices the hand-shaped bruise on Kurosaki-kun’s bicep when classes resume after winter break.

For a moment, she doesn’t even know _what_ she’s seeing – Kurosaki-kun had gone home for the holidays, like most of them did, and she was sure it wasn’t there before he left, which means…

His family? Miho wonders, even as she takes a proffered cookie and bites into it. But no, Kurosaki-kun is practically gushing (for him) over his sister’s cooking and uncharacteristically sharing the fruits of her labour around the class, and he’s already making plans to travel home during their next week-long break. He doesn’t act like he’s dreading the prospect of going home.

Then… someone else who lives in his hometown, whom he spends time with?

A… a significant other?

She has to know.

“Umm, Kurosaki-kun?” Miho asks, one afternoon after class has let out for the day and they’re the only two left in the classroom. “Can I ask… that is…” her voice is coming out smaller and smaller, and Kurosaki-kun is blinking at her in confusion, but he also hasn’t left yet, which bolsters her courage just enough for her to squeak out the last few words, “do you have a romantic partner back home?”

Kurosaki-kun stares at her for another moment longer, and Miho was just about to start apologising fervently when he heaves a sigh. “Yes,” he says gruffly. “Sorry.”

Disappointment sinks heavy into her gut, but it’s marred by the lightning-strike realisation that she was right, Kurosaki-kun has a significant other, who, who –

She can’t make the words unstick from her throat.

“Do you have a picture?” she presses, trying to find some way, any way to make herself feel better. Maybe if she sees photos of a cute girl, she’ll realise that Kurosaki-kun is way out of her league, and that girl can’t possibly be – be doing _that_ to him.

But Kurosaki-kun shakes his head.

Miho watches him leave, and isn’t sure what to feel.

* * *

She’s still watching him a few weeks later when they get out of class on a Friday afternoon, and there’s a middle-aged blond man lounging casually against the English Department building. He straightens a little when he catches sight of them, like he’s been waiting for them, but Miho has no idea who he is. She turns around, and is just about to ask Kurosaki-kun if he knows the blond, when she catches sight of the look upon his face.

Shock, worry – and is that _fear_?

 _That’s_ the significant other? She… whatever Miho has been expecting, it’s not _this_.

“What are you doing here?” Kurosaki-kun hisses, drawing closer to the man, leaving Miho to stand awkwardly at a sort-of respectable distance away. It’s definitely not how she expects a conversation between a long-distance couple to start. “Is everyone all right?”

She’s not the only one who’s confused by the non-sequitur. “Everyone is fine, Ichigo,” the blond soothes, putting a hand on his arm. Kurosaki-kun doesn’t shake it off, but he also doesn’t lean into the touch like the other couples on campus do. “Tokyo’s not that far away, and I just thought – I’d come visit for the weekend?”

It’s the questioning lilt at the end of his sentence that really gives Miho pause for the first time. It could be that it’s because they’re in public, but the blond doesn’t act like the kind of man she expects him to be. He doesn’t bark orders, doesn’t stare Kurosaki-kun down, doesn’t manhandle Kurosaki-kun around. In fact, if she has to point it out, the one doing those things… is actually Kurosaki-kun.

She doesn’t know how to feel about that either.

Miho slips away the first chance she gets. She has a lot to think about.

**Author's Note:**

> [cywscross's UraIchi Discord server](https://discordapp.com/invite/ADFnKTZ#_=_) | [Starrie's fic sneak preview server](https://discord.gg/8yJVmbD) | [Starrie's Tumblr](http://starriewolf.tumblr.com)


End file.
